Pope turns on charm at press meeting

POPE Francis has shared intimate insights into the moments after his papal election, telling journalists he was immediately inspired to take the name of St Francis of Assisi because of his work for peace and the poor.

"Let me tell you a story," Francis said in a break from his prepared text during a special gathering for thousands of journalists, media workers and guests on Saturday.

Francis then described how was comforted by his friend, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, as it appeared the voting was going his way and it seemed "a bit dangerous" that he would be elected.

"He hugged me. He kissed me. He said don't forget about the poor," Pope Francis recalled. "And that's how in my heart came the name Francis of Assisi."

St Francis of Assisi, the Pope said, was "the man of the poor. The man of peace. The man who loved and cared for creation - and in this moment we don't have such a great relationship with the creator. The man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man who wanted a poor church."

He then joked that some other cardinals suggested other names: Hadrian VI, after a great church reformer - a reference to the need for the Pope to clean up the Vatican's messy bureaucracy.

Someone else suggested Clement XV, to counter Clement XIV who suppressed the Jesuit order.

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PM, Abbott brave rain for Greek festival

AUSTRALIA'S political leaders have braved a wet and chilly Melbourne evening for a celebration of all things Greek.

Under umbrellas and coats, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott walked along the city's Greek precinct on Lonsdale Street on Saturday, the first night of the Antipodes Festival.

Ms Gillard said Greek Australians had changed Australian culture for the better.

"It is impossible to imagine Melbourne, it is impossible to imagine our country without the contribution of the Greek community," she told the crowd.

"It is a part of our fabric and what has enriched us."

Mr Abbott said Greece's greatest gift to the world was democracy.

"Every democratic right around the world is in a sense a child of Pericles," he said.

"Greek philosophy and Christian inspiration have given us Western civilisation."

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Gunmen kill justice official in Nigeria

GUNMEN have killed a senior judicial official in northern Nigeria's largest city of Kano, police say.

A Kano State police spokesman said Usamatu Badawi, a high court registrar, was pulled out of his car by gunmen and shot in the eyes as he was driving home.

"We have received report of the killing of a court registrar in Hotoro area by some gunmen last night who took away his car," the spokesman, Magaji Majia, said of Friday's incident.

"We have opened an investigation to identify the killers and their motive."

Majia refused to say if the killing was carried out by Boko Haram Islamists, blamed for series of targeted killings in the city.

The slain judicial officer was a former national president of the judicial workers union JUSUN.

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Find new ways to spread faith, says Pope

Pope Francis has warned in his first mass that the Catholic Church risks becoming a charity. Source: AAP

POPE Francis has urged the troubled Catholic Church not to give in to "pessimism" and to find new ways of spreading the faith "to the ends of the earth".

"Let us not give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day," the 76-year-old Argentinian told an audience of the world's cardinals on Friday, his third day in office.

In a reference to the declining number of worshippers in many parts of the world, he urged the cardinals to find "the courage to persevere and also to find new ways to bring evangelisation to the ends of the earth".

Francis said he and they were "elderly", but old age brought wisdom.

"Let us give this wisdom to young people like good wine that gets better over the years," he said.

The first Latin American Pope in history hailed his predecessor Benedict XVI's historic resignation as a "courageous and humble act".

Benedict, who last month became the first Pope to stand down for 700 years, had "lit a flame in the depth of our hearts that will continue to burn", he said.

The new Pope wore white papal vestments but also plain black shoes, not the red shoes favoured by his German predecessor, for the address in the ornate 16th-century Clementine Hall in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio has signalled his will be a more simple papacy, stripped of the fineries enjoyed by his predecessors, and has called for a return to the Church's roots.

On Thursday, he gave a stark warning that the Church, wracked by scandal and Vatican infighting, risked becoming just another charitable organisation if it strayed from its true mission.

The speeches are part of a series of events leading to his inauguration mass on Tuesday - a significant date in the Catholic calendar because it is the Feast of St Joseph, the patron saint of the universal church.

The new pontiff is also due to meet his predecessor, who has withdrawn to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the coming days.

The surprise election of the son of an Italian emigrant railway worker, who was considered a rank outsider before the cardinals began their confidential deliberations, has sparked hope for change in the Catholic Church.

His elevation is also being seen as a nod to the Church's power in Latin America, home to 40 per cent of the world's Catholics. In Europe, its traditional power base, it is ageing and declining.

Projecting an image as a simple man of the people, the Pope chose to name himself after St Francis of Assisi, the 13th century saint who shunned the riches of his family to devote himself to God and the poor.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he lived in a modest apartment rather than the official residence, and took buses to work, and he has already made his mark in Rome with his informal style.

The Vatican revealed that following his election Francis had turned down a ride in the papal limousine and instead insisted on boarding a minibus with the cardinals.

But the new Pope's past in Argentina, and especially his actions during its 1976-83 military dictatorship, are coming under the microscope.

Bergoglio and other Catholic clergy were lambasted by leftist critics for failing to act against the regime during Argentina's "Dirty War" in which 30,000 people died or disappeared.

Under particular scrutiny is his role in the arrest of two young Jesuits, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, who were taken to a notorious torture centre by the junta.

Bergoglio was alleged to have betrayed the young missionaries to the regime because they had become opposition sympathisers and he wanted to preserve the Jesuits' political neutrality.

For his part, Bergoglio has always denied any implication in the case of the two missionaries, and even insists he intervened with the head of the junta, Jorge Videla, to beg for their freedom.

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Girl, 13, missing from Melbourne

A 13-YEAR-OLD girl has gone missing from Melbourne's outer suburbs.

Eliza Falua was last seen at a medical centre in Dandenong at around 4.30pm (AEDT) on Friday, police said.

She was due to be collected by family members at Dandenong railway station at 3pm.

Police have concerns for Eliza's welfare.

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Several injured in unit explosion

POLICE are at the scene of what appears to be an explosion in a unit at Beenleigh.

Police were called to the George Street unit complex shortly after 9.15pm.

Police media said a number of people have been injured. One person is believed to have serious injuries, and four others have non-life threatening injuries.

Residents have been evacuated.

George Street between Boundary and Bougainville streets is currently closed with traffic diversions in place.

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Man's body found near Broken Hill

THE body of an elderly man has been found near Broken Hill in outback NSW.

Police said two elderly men, aged 81 and 78, went missing on Wednesday near Broken Hill after leaving the isolated mining town in a four-wheel drive.

Police told AAP on Thursday night that a search for the men was launched on Thursday, and the vehicle was located on Thursday.

One of the elderly men was found deceased near the vehicle while the other man was found alive, they said.

The 4WD may have become bogged, police said.

The ABC reports that the men were on a prospecting trip in a remote part of the region.

It also reports that the man who was found alive has been taken to hospital and is in a stable condition.

In a statement, police said the 4WD was found in remote country known as Euriowie, about 70km north of Broken Hill, about 1.45pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

Police say a report will be prepared for the coroner.

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UK, France prepared to arm Syrian rebels

FRANCE and Britain are ready to arm rebels in Syria, even without full support from the European Union, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says.

UK government sources said on Thursday that no decision had been taken to seek the lifting of the EU arms embargo on Syria, but "all options" remain on the table.

Prime Minister David Cameron hinted earlier this week that Britain could decide to ignore the arms ban and supply weapons to rebels fighting Bashar Assad's regime, telling MPs that he hoped the EU would act together if it became necessary, but "it's not out of the question we might have to do things in our own way".

Cameron is visiting Brussels for a summit with other EU leaders, but Downing Street said Syria was not expected to feature on the agenda.

It is understood that Britain wants to see what impact is achieved by the recent move to supply "non-lethal" assistance - including armoured cars, body armour and secure communications equipment - before further decisions are taken.

Fabius on Thursday suggested London and Paris could ask for an EU meeting planned for May to be brought forward, possibly to the end of March.

Speaking to France Info radio, Fabius said Britain and France were asking the Europeans to lift the arms embargo "so that the resistance fighters have the possibility of defending themselves".

If unanimous EU support for lifting the measure is lacking, the French and British governments would decide to deliver weapons, Fabius said, adding that France "is a sovereign nation".

"We must move quickly," he said.

Responding to Fabius's remarks, a UK foreign office spokesman said: "Our objective is clear - an end to the violence and a political transition to a more democratic Syria through a political solution.

"As it stands, the political track has little chance of gathering momentum unless the regime feels compelled to come to the negotiating table. They need to feel that the balance on the ground has shifted against them.

"The foreign secretary has been clear he hasn't ruled out any options for the future."

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Govt lets down defence victims: taskforce

THE head of a taskforce investigating alleged abuses in the defence force says he's disillusioned with the federal government's failure to act on claims - and thinks victims may be too.

DLA Piper taskforce leader Gary Rumble told a Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade hearing on Thursday that he was disappointed none of the matters raised in a 2012 report had been acted on.

Law firm DLA Piper was commissioned to examine abuse allegations following the Skype scandal at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in 2011 and uncovered 775 plausible abuse allegations across every decade since the 1950s. The earliest related to events in 1951.

"I am deeply concerned that the government's lack of action and decision last year may have distressed individuals who were hoping for some response to their specific issue (and) worn down the willingness of those who told their stories ... to continue to be involved," Dr Rumble said.

He said he was worried the lack of action would encourage perpetrators and potential witnesses to think they could escape punishment.

Dr Rumble said the taskforce had been directed to write a second report for the Chief of the Defence Force and Service Chiefs but only the defence minister, Stephen Smith, had seen it.

Mr Smith wrote to him saying it would not have been appropriate for anyone other than him to see the report.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Smith told parliament new complaints to the taskforce's hotline had been building steadily since it opened last November.

At March 4, there had been 1041 complaints.

Just over 780 were made by personal phone call and in voicemail messages, while 260 were sent by email.

Taskforce chairman, retired judge Len Roberts-Smith, told Mr Smith there was no realistic prospect of its work being completed within the initial 12-month term, so the government has agreed to a six-month extension, with the taskforce now due to conclude its investigations by the end of May 2014.

As well, there will be an end-of-May 2013 deadline for new allegations to be made.

The taskforce is examining individual allegations, which if sufficiently substantiated could allow victims to claim up to $50,000 in compensation.

It is also considering whether a full royal commission is needed to address outstanding allegations at ADFA in the 1990s and allegations of sexual and other abuse of naval cadets at the former navy training centre, HMAS Leeuwin, which operated from 1960-84.

The taskforce said it appeared the abuse at Leeuwin occurred in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Much of the alleged bullying and violence appears to have been unreported," Mr Smith said.

Shadow Defence Minister David Johnston slammed the federal government's "snail pace" response and the way in which Mr Smith has handled the issue as if it were an "afterthought".

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Chilean poet Neruda may have been poisoned

THE remains of Chilean Nobel prize winning poet Pablo Neruda will be exhumed to determine if he died of cancer or was poisoned.

The leftist, who died 12 days after the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer.

But officials in 2011 started examining the possibility he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime, as claimed by Neruda's driver.

"Neruda's remains will be exhumed on April 8," a judicial source told AFP.

The exhumation was ordered last month by Judge Mario Carroza but no specific date had been made public.

Neruda is buried next to his wife, Matilde Urrutia, in Isla Negra, 120km west of the capital Santiago.

He won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature and is best known for his love poems as well as his "Canto General" - an epic poem about South America's history and its people.

The Chilean justice system gave the go-ahead for a probe in June 2011 after a complaint was filed by the Chilean Communist Party.

The complaint came after Neruda's driver, Manuel Araya, declared publicly that Pinochet agents poisoned Neruda while he was hospitalised with cancer.

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Both sides use child soldiers in Syria

CHILDREN are being increasingly used on the frontline in Syria's war, with both sides utilising boys as soldiers and even human shields, a British charity says.

Save the Children says girls are being forced into early marriage in an effort to protect them from the perceived threat of sexual violence.

"Children are increasingly being put directly in harm's way as they are being recruited by armed groups and forces," said Save the Children on Wednesday.

"There is a growing pattern of armed groups on both sides of the conflict recruiting children under 18 as porters, guards, informers or fighters.

"For many children and their families, this is seen as a source of pride. But some children are forcibly recruited into military activities, and in some cases children as young as eight have been used as human shields."

One in three children reported having been hit, kicked or shot at, said the report entitled Children Under Fire, citing research carried out among refugee children by Turkey's Bahcesehir University.

Thousands of children in Syria faced malnutrition, and millions were forced from their homes and live in parks, barns and in some cases caves, it said.

"For millions of Syrian children, the innocence of childhood has been replaced by the cruel realities of trying to survive this vicious war," said Carolyn Miles, the head of Save the Children.

"Many are now living out in the open, struggling to find enough to eat, without the right medicine if they become sick or injured.

"As society has broken down, in the worst cases, hunger, homelessness and terror have replaced school for some of these young people. We cannot allow this to continue unchecked; the lives of too many children are at stake."

The British charity called for all parties to the conflict to allow access to conflict zones and for governments to deliver on pledges to fund a $US1.5 billion ($A1.46 billion) humanitarian appeal for Syria.

The uprising was sparked in March 2011 by the arrest and torture of children and adolescents accused of painting anti-regime graffiti in the southern city of Daraa, which became a flashpoint of deadly protests.

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Traders on sidelines as Asian markets slip

MOST Asian markets have closed lower, with few catalysts to drive buying after recent gains.

At the close on Wednesday, Tokyo fell 0.61 per cent, or 75.15 points to 12,239.66, Sydney slipped 0.5 per cent, or 25.5 points, to 5,092.4, while Seoul rose 0.32 per cent, or 6.39 points, to 1,999.73.

The yen edged up slightly as investors weighed reports that Japan's main opposition party would vote against one of the government's nominations for deputy governor of the country's central bank.

Hong Kong shed 1.46 per cent, or 333.95 points, to end at 22,556.65, while Shanghai fell 0.99 per cent, or 22.64 points, to 2,263.97.

Traders took a breather as they awaited fresh buying impetus, with the Dow extending its record-breaking run to six sessions but only by squeezing out a marginal gain of 0.02 per cent.

However, the broad-market S&P 500 fell 0.24 per cent, snapping a seven-session winning streak that had taken it to within a whisker of its all-time high. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.32 per cent.

In Tokyo the Nikkei rolled back slightly as the US dollar struggled to advance any further against the yen, having shot up by about 20 per cent since November.

The greenback saw some selling pressure on Tuesday in New York after reports that Japan's largest opposition party said it would not back the nomination of Kikuo Iwata to serve as the Bank of Japan's deputy governor.

Iwata, along with the nominee for governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, is a strong supporter of giving more control of the BoJ to the government and an advocate of further aggressive monetary easing.

His failure to win approval could raise questions about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's clout, analysts said.

The Democratic Party of Japan, however, did say it would support the nominations of Kuroda and Hiroshi Nakaso, in line for the second available post as deputy governor.

Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires: "The local press is confident that all three nominees will eventually be accepted."

On currency markets the US dollar slipped to Y95.56 from Y96.05 in New York late on Tuesday. It had been at Y96.40 earlier on Tuesday in Asia.

The euro bought Y124.80 and $US1.3057, compared with Y125.19 and $US1.3035.

And the pound bought $US1.4953 from $US1.4903 late on Tuesday, with the British unit recovering slightly after a sell on weak industrial production numbers that fuelled fears the economy could slip into recession again.

Oil prices were mixed, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, gaining 31 cents to $US92.85 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for April delivery losing 29 cents to $US109.36.

Gold was at $US1,592.78 an ounce at 1050 GMT (2150 AEDT) compared with $US1,582.70 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

- Wellington fell 0.86 per cent, or 37.62 points, to 4,341.15.

Telecom eased 6.0 per cent to NZ$2.30 while Auckland Airport was down 4.2 per cent at NZ$2.76 and Fletcher Building lost 1.76 per cent to NZ$8.94.

- Manila closed 0.15 per cent lower, giving up 9.86 points to 6,776.56.

SM Investments fell 0.54 per cent to 1,098 pesos and Ayala Land dropped 0.64 per cent to 31.20 pesos, while Alliance Global Group slipped 1.79 per cent to 22 pesos.

- Taipei ended flat, edging up 0.80 points to 7,995.51.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 1.95 per cent to Tw$104.5 while smartphone maker HTC fell 3.98 per cent to Tw$241.0.

- Kuala Lumpur lost 0.62 per cent, or 10.32 points, to 1,646.22.

CIMB Group shed 1.9 per cent to 7.11 ringgit, RHB Capital lost 3.5 per cent to 8.15 while Petronas Gas gained 1.9 per cent to 18.96.

- Bangkok added 0.13 per cent, or 2.02 points, to 1,578.70.

Oil company Bangchak Petroleum rose 4.26 per cent to 36.75 baht, while Kiatnakin Bank jumped 4.00 per cent to 65.00 baht.

- Jakarta was down 0.39 per cent, or 18.87 points, at 4,835.44.

Cement producer Semen Indonesia lost 1.91 per cent to 18,000 rupiah, auto manufacturer Astra International dropped 1.24 per cent to 7,950 rupiah, while paper maker Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia gained 2.35 per cent to 2,175 rupiah.

- Singapore dropped 0.44 per cent, or 14.50 points, to 3,288.52.

Singapore Airlines gained 0.18 per cent to Sg$10.89 while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 1.16 per cent to Sg$10.25.

- Mumbai fell 1.03 per cent, or 202.37 points, to 19,362.55 points.

Infosys was down 1.89 per cent at 2,862.45 rupees and Tata Motors shed 1.15 per cent to 300.80 rupees.

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1.7 million apply for 1500 Indian jobs

India's largest state-run bank has received 1.7 million applications for 1500 clerk jobs. Source: AAP

INDIA'S largest state-run bank has received 1.7 million applications for 1500 entry-level clerk jobs - and has promised to examine all of them.

State Bank of India chairman Pratip Chaudhuri attributed the huge interest to good marketing and attractive employment terms, with the number of applications underlining the appeal of "jobs for life" in the Indian public sector.

For positions in Mumbai, the bank offered a starting package of 69,000 rupees ($A1,245) a month.

Job opportunities in the Indian private sector have fallen in the past 18 months as economic growth has dropped to its lowest level in a decade.

The government forecasts that India's once-booming economy will grow by five per cent in the financial year to March 31.

Last year, it grew by 6.2 per cent but even that rate is insufficient to create the jobs India needs for its fast-growing young population.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a former economist, believes the country needs at least eight per cent growth to create enough jobs.

Chaudhuri said all 1.7 million applicants - more than 1,100 per position available - would be assessed.

"We have conducted such examinations in the past by hiring schools across the country. This time, we may have to do two shifts," he told the newspaper.

Nine out of ten Indians are employed in the "informal" sector in jobs that offer no security, few perks and often illegal working conditions, government data shows.

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Unusual snow hits UK and Europe

HEAVY snow has caused havoc in Britain and Western Europe, cutting off power and disrupting road, air and train travel.

In Britain, drivers including former Eurovision song contest winner Cheryl Baker were trapped for more than 10 hours as ice, snow and freezing winds descended on southeastern England on Monday and Tuesday.

Police, rescue services, snow ploughs and gritting lorries battled to help the stricken motorists in temperatures as low as -3C.

The counties of Sussex and Kent bordering London were worst affected with roads including stretches of the M23 motorway near Gatwick Airport under 10 centimetres of snow.

Singer Cheryl Baker, formerly of the band Bucks Fizz, was among those caught up in the chaos as she tried to reach Brighton to pick up her children.

"We took 10 hours to do a one-hour journey," she told ITV.

Eurostar said services of the train that runs under the English channel were suspended "due to extreme weather conditions".

Commuters in Paris were advised to stay at home on Tuesday morning and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault activated an emergency response plan.

Germany's biggest airport in Frankfurt was temporarily closed because of heavy snow.

Some 200 to 300 flights were cancelled as bad weather hampered efforts by snow sweepers to clear runways and prevented airline crews from reaching work on time.

Airport operator Fraport AG said it expected flights to resume at 1.30pm (2330 AEDT).

Major disruptions were also reported in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Weather service Meteo France described the snowfall - coming only eight days before the official start of spring - as "remarkable for the season".

More than 2000 people were stranded in their cars overnight as heavy snow paralysed roads in Normandy and Brittany, with many spending the night in emergency shelters.

"There are cars in front, there are cars behind. We're in a film, it's like the end of the world," trapped driver Michel told France Bleu radio from the Manche region.

At least 66,000 homes in Normandy and Brittany were without power, following snowfalls of 20 to 60 centimetres.

The city's two main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, said they had cancelled up to a quarter of flights.

A homeless man was found dead in the north-western town of Saint-Brieuc early on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old man was believed to have died of exposure.

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Coal use falls to record low

COAL use in energy production has fallen below 75 per cent for the first time in Australian history, lowering carbon emissions and suggesting a trend towards alternative energy.

Carbon emission index monitors pitt&sherry say summer peak energy demands from National Electricity Market (NEM) suppliers have fallen over the past four years in Victoria, the past three years in Queensland and the previous two in NSW and South Australia.

More recently, demand also fell at an increasing rate through February, pitt&sherry consultant Dr Hugh Saddler says.

"The lower peaks have important implications for future spending on network capacity upgrades which, as everyone now knows, have been the main driver of electricity price rises over the past four or five years," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since December 2010, electricity produced by coal fired generators fell about 16 per cent, he added.

Coal now produces 74.8 per cent of the electricity supplied to the NEM, renewable sources wind and hydro 12.5 per cent and gas 12.7 per cent.

But Mr Saddler is not sure whether electricity price increases caused the change.

Similar trends have been witnessed in the US, the UK and New Zealand, and as these countries have not "experienced the large price rises seen in Australia ... it is unlikely that price is the main explanation for the changes".

"More fundamental processes beyond price effects appear to be at work," he said.

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Sick Queen misses Commonwealth Day service

QUEEN Elizabeth II will miss the Commonwealth Day service in London as she is still recovering from the symptoms of gastroenteritis, Buckingham Palace says.

The 86-year-old was admitted to hospital for the first time in 10 years last week due to the illness.

She was discharged last Monday after an overnight stay in a private London hospital.

The monarch, who is the head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations, will not attend the service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, the palace says.

The Queen's 91-year-old husband Prince Philip will now be the only senior British royal at the service, which will be attended by Commonwealth ambassadors, or high commissioners, from around the world and will feature an address from Virgin tycoon Richard Branson.

The BBC, Britain's publicly-funded national broadcaster, reported that doctors had recommended it would be best for the queen not to sit through an hour-long church service.

The monarch will still attend an evening reception where she will sign the new Commonwealth charter, a document that includes commitments to gay rights among other issues, the palace said.

All of the Commonwealth nations adopted the charter in December.

The 16-point charter aims to protect democracy, the rule of law, international security and free speech.

"We are implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds," the document reads.

Queen Elizabeth is head of state of 16 Commonwealth realms including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Her titles also include head of the Commonwealth, which mainly groups territories of the former British empire.

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Deliberate fire ended Tas tree sit: tweet

POLICE have reportedly confirmed that a deliberately-lit fire was behind a record-breaking Tasmanian anti-logging activist being forced from the tree that was her home for 15 months.

Tree-sitter Miranda Gibson had until Thursday lived on a 60-metre high platform atop a eucalypt in the Tyenna Valley northwest of Hobart since December 2011.

The 31-year-old was forced from her perch after 449 days by a nearby bushfire.

Tasmania police were unavailable for direct comment, however, ABC Radio Hobart host Damien Brown tweeted late on Monday night that officers had confirmed to him that the fire was deliberate.

"@TasmaniaPolice have confirmed fires that forced @observertree1 from her 457 day tree-top protest were deliberately lit," he said.

Ms Gibson's group Still Wild Still Threatened claims her tree-sit was Australia's longest, beating the 208 days Manfred Stephens set in north Queensland in 1995.

Former Greens leader Bob Brown last week questioned if the fire that put an end to Ms Gibson's protest had been deliberately lit and called for a swift investigation.

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Portugal in worst recession in 37 years

PORTUGAL'S statistics agency says the economy contracted 3.2 per cent last year - its sharpest annual downturn since 1975.

Portugal is enacting broad debt-reduction measures, including tax hikes and pay and pension cuts, in return for a 78 billion euro ($A100 billion) international financial lifeline it received in May 2011.

Those austerity policies are widely blamed for the deepening recession and growing hardship.

The National Statistics Institute said on Monday that a drop in private consumption and slower export growth were the main factors behind the slump, with the economy shrinking 3.8 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Unemployment stands at 17.6 per cent, the third-highest rate in the 27-nation bloc after Greece and Spain.

The economy contracted 1.6 per cent in 2011. The government predicts a 2.0 per cent contraction this year.

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Greens battered in WA election

The Greens suffered even more than the Labor Party in the WA election. Source: AAP

IF Labor's performance in the West Australian election was bad, the Greens was worse - and the party's federal leader Christine Milne says it's a clear warning that Tony Abbott and last century conservatism looms large.

As Colin Barnett's minority Liberal government was returned with a huge majority, the four per cent swing away from the Greens was even more violent than those that turned away from Labor.

The Greens only hope of representation in WA's lower house is in the Kimberley, where local candidate Chris Maher and his opposition to the James Price Point gas project mobilised support.

But across the rest of the state, the Greens vote plummeted, with the party predicted to hold just two seats in the Upper House as counting concludes.

Ms Milne said rather than take her party's savaging in WA as a sign of decline, she said voters should see it as a warning as what could happen at the federal polling booths in September.

"I think the message out of WA is that is essential that we keep the Greens holding the balance of power in the federal parliament," Ms Milne said.

"Because what is very clear is that(Opposition Leader) Tony Abbott and the conservatives are coming and you are going to need people that have policies and will stand up and defend them.

"It is absolutely critical people see the march of the conservatives across the country and see it for what it is - a retreat to the past, to the last century.

"We need to stand up against everything that Tony Abbott would tear down."

With counting in WA suspended until Monday, the Greens held just eight per cent of the vote in the Upper House.

Former Greens turned independent MP Adele Carles only attracted five per cent of the popular vote in Fremantle after her issues with former lover and state treasurer Troy Buswell.

Ms Milne claimed the campaign run by the Liberals and Colin Barnett had been influenced by the state's major mining and resources interests.

"Colin Barnett has run an aggressive campaign on behalf of the big mining industry," Ms Milne said.

"In WA you have got strong voices like Gina Rinehart and Twiggy Forrest and so on all arguing that they should not have to pay the mining tax.

"That has been resonating through WA and that is a tragedy for the rest of the country."

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India's Kumbh Mela festival draws 120m

THE world's biggest religious festival has concluded with nearly two million pilgrims taking a dip in an Indian holy river that washed away the sins of 120 million people in the last 60 days.

The Kumbh Mela, celebrated every 12 years at the conjunction of two sacred rivers on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Allahabad, drew massive crowds of devotees, ascetics and foreign tourists.

The two-month-long Kumbh Mela ended on the occasion of Mahashivratri, a major Hindu festival celebrated across India and Nepal.

Authorities at the festival on Sunday said the last batch of holy men marked the end of the Kumbh by plunging into the river Ganges and other pilgrims filled the Ganga Jal (holy water) in plastic bottles for religious ceremonies at home.

Many naked holy men smeared their bodies with ashes and sand, chanted final prayers and departed from the venue.

"Over 60 million people attended the festival in 2001 and this time we believe 120 million people have participated," festival chief Mani Prasad Mishra told AFP late on Saturday.

The festival involves crowd management on a jaw-dropping scale and despite all the precautions in place was hit by tragedy last month when a stampede at a train station in Allahabad killed 36 pilgrims who were returning home.

Assorted dreadlocked, naked holy men, priests and self-proclaimed saints from all over the country assembled for the spectacle that offers a rare glimpse of the dizzying range of Indian spiritualism.

Despite the hardships of waking early, plunging into the polluted river water and the relentless crush of the crowds, pilgrims from all over the world described feeling spiritually uplifted and amazed by the scale of the event.

"There is a sense of relief because the festival finally is coming to an end. Most of the pilgrims have returned back home," said Mishra.

He said the job of dismantling the infrastructure that sprawled over 2,000 hectares to house the pilgrims had already begun.

"We built a tent city to celebrate the Kumbh Mela and now we are tearing it down," he said.

Mishra said five electrical sub-stations and tens of thousands of streetlights that gave the improvised city its yellow glow between dusk and dawn would be removed by Sunday night.

All police stations, mobile field hospitals, fire stations, shops, and cafes were now shut and more than 35,000 makeshift toilets had been removed, he said.

The Kumbh Mela has its origins in Hindu mythology, which describes how a few drops of the nectar of immortality fell on the four places that host the festival - Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.

The 'Mother Ganges' is worshipped as a god and is seen as the giver and taker of life. In many cases, pilgrims used up all their money to come to the Kumbh Mela, hoping that their prayers could come true.

"People from all walks of life participate in the festival but there is one thing common among all of them - they have a desire to lead a pure life," said Chandra Bala, a temple priest in Allahabad city.

"The power of the Kumbh Mela is the power of humanity."

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Karzai alleges US, Taliban colluding

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has accused the Taliban and the US of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence will worsen if most foreign troops leave - an allegation the top American commander in Afghanistan rejected as "categorically false".

Karzai said two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on Saturday - one outside the Afghan Defence Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province - show the insurgent group is conducting attacks to help show that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current combat mission ends in 2014.

"The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase: 2014. They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents," he said during a nationally televised speech about the state of Afghan women.

US and NATO forces commander General Joseph Dunford said Karzai had never expressed such views to him, but said it was understandable that tensions would arise as the coalition balances the need to complete its mission and the Afghans' move to exercise more sovereignty.

"We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the last 12 years, to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage," Dunford said.

Karzai is known for making incendiary comments in his public speeches, a move that is often attributed to him trying to appeal to those who sympathise with the Taliban or as a way to gain leverage when he feels his international allies are ignoring his country's sovereignty.

In previous speeches, he has threatened to join the Taliban and called his NATO allies occupiers who want to plunder Afghanistan's resources.

Karzai also denounced the arrest of a university student on Saturday by Afghan forces his aide said were working for the CIA. It was unclear why the student was detained.

Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said the CIA freed the student after Karzai's staff intervened, but Karzai wants the Afghan raiders arrested. The president issued a decree on Sunday banning all foreign forces from universities and schools unless they obtain prior permission from the Afghan government.

The Karzai government's latest comments and actions come as it negotiates a pact with the US for the long-term presence of American forces in Afghanistan and just days after an agreement to transfer the US prison outside of Kabul to Afghan authority fell through. They also came during US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan since becoming the Pentagon chief.

Karzai said in his speech any foreign powers that want to keep troops in Afghanistan need to do so under conditions set forward by Afghanistan.

"We will tell them where we need them, and under which conditions. They must respect our laws. They must respect the national sovereignty of our country and must respect all our customs," Karzai said.

Karzai offered no proof of co-ordination, but said the Taliban and the United States were in "daily negotiations" in various foreign countries and noted the United States has said it no longer considers the insurgent group its enemy.

The US continues to fight against the Taliban and other militant groups, but has expressed its backing for formal peace talks with the Taliban to find a political resolution to the war.

Karzai said he did not believe the Taliban's claim they launched Saturday's attacks to show they are still a potent force fighting the United States.

"Yesterday's explosions, which the Taliban claimed, show that in reality they are saying they want the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan," Karzai said.

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